Family to Kelli Bordeaux: 'We will find you'

Photo of Kelli Bordeaux the night she disappeared (Photo courtesy of the Fayetteville Police Department)

April 26, 2012 8:09:31 PM PDT

FAYETTEVILLE --

Volunteers showed up in droves Thursday to help search for evidence connected to the disappearance of Kelli Bordeaux.

The 23-year-old Fort Bragg soldier was last seen leaving Froggy Bottoms -- a Ramsey Street bar -- on April 14.

"Please let her come home," Pfc. Bordeaux's husband Mike Bordeaux's said to anyone who may know his wife's whereabouts. "Just let her come home to her family, me, friends, just let her come home."

Mike Bordeaux and several other family members showed up at a staging area for Thursday's search to thank the over 500 volunteers who showed up to help and wait for the results of their efforts.

"I'm trying to stay strong for her and the family and it's just very tough for me right now having to go through something like this," Bordeaux's husband said.

He said the last time he saw his wife was April 3. Mike Bordeaux denied they had any marital problems.

"We were married," he said. "We weren't getting a divorce. We were together. We loved each other. We love each other a lot."

His comments come after Nicholas Holbert -- who was at the bar with Kelli Bordeaux and later drove her home the night she was last seen -- said he didn't know the soldier was married until police told him.

"I asked her if she was single, and she said 'Well, it's complicated,'" Holbert told ABC11 in an interview days after Bordeaux's disappearance.

Meanwhile, Kelli Bordeaux's family said they are doing what they can to stay positive.

"We will find you ... we love you," her uncle said during a news conference Thursday morning. "To those responsible we will find you too."

Authorities said there has been a significant outpouring of support from the public wanting to help locate the missing soldier.

Officials showed the roughly 560 volunteers a picture of Pfc. Bordeaux that was taken right before she went to the bar the night she disappeared and told them to be on the lookout for the soldier's cell phone.

In the photo, she is wearing a red tank top and shorts. Police said when she went to the bar, she was wearing "bedazzled" flip-flops. Authorities would not say where they got the picture.

Thursday, teams were assigned to search in various locations around the North Fayetteville area.

Officials said all the evidence they have collected in the case so far continues to lead back to the area near the intersection of Ramsey Street and Andrews Road -- where Bordeaux was last seen.

They are asking anyone who was in that area around midnight on April 13 and may have seen something, to please contact police.

Thursday's search is expected to run until all areas are checked.

Last week, two big searches turned up no trace of the missing soldier. Police investigators are now re-interviewing people who saw her at the club before she disappeared.